Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

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Die Erwartung

Introduction

Zumsteeg’s version of this ballad was published in 1800 in the second book of the Kleine Balladen und Lieder. Of all earlier composers, apart from Mozart and Beethoven, Schubert’s connection with Zumsteeg’s music is the best documented. Schubert’s schoolfriend Anton Holzapfel recounts how Schubert busied himself with Zumsteeg’s Kleine Balladen und Lieder (seven volumes published between 1791 and 1805, 170 settings in all) and was enthralled with them. The use of recitative, the explorations of mediant key relations and enharmonic modulations, the attempt to find a musical unity for the setting of an extended text, all these things Schubert took to heart. Like a young painter attempting to copy a famous painting he set out to compose a number of ballads with Zumsteeg’s version opened before him as a model. It goes without saying that his achievements quickly outstripped Zumsteeg’s, not so much in matters of declamation and technique (Schubert often followed the older composer’s choice of key and his time signatures) but in the adventurousness of the piano-writing and the creation of dramatic atmosphere. The Schubert songs with a close Zumsteeg connection are Hagars Klage, D5, Lied der Liebe, D109, Nachtgesang, D314, Ritter Toggenburg, D397, Die Erwartung, D159, and Skolie, D507. Zumsteeg’s influence on Schubert was at its strongest between 1811 and the spring of 1816 when Schubert made his second version of Die Erwartung.

Recordings

'This would have been a massive project for even the biggest international label, but from a small independent … it is a miracle. An ideal Christ ...'Please give me the complete Hyperion Schubert songs set – all 40 discs –and, in the next life, I promise I'll "re-gift" it to Schubert himself … ...» More

'This enterprising, often revelatory set should intrigue and delight anyone interested in the development of the Lied' (Gramophone)'Since making music with friends was Schubert's whole raison d'etre, this 3-CD box is an inspired idea … led by the soprano Susan Gritton, ...» More

Did I not hear the gate? Was that not the bolt creaking? No, it was the wind blowing through the poplars.

Adorn yourself, leaf-clad roof, you are to receive her in all her radiant beauty! Branches, build a shady bower to envelop her secretly in sweet night, and all you caressing breezes, be awake, play and dally about her rosy cheeks when her delicate foot lightly bears its fair burden to the seat of love.

Hush, what is that darting through the hedge, rustling and scurrying? No, it was only a startled bird frightened from the hedge.

Extinguish your torch, day! Draw on, contemplative night, with your sweet silence! The rapture of love shuns both the listening ear and the immodest witness of the sun’s rays! Hesperus alone, the silent one, looking calmy on, may be its confidant.

Was that not a faint, distant call, like whispering voices? No, it is the swan, tracing circles over the silvery lake.

Flowing harmonies fill my ears, the spring murmurs sweetly, the flower bows at the west wind’s kiss, and I see all creatures united in bliss. The grape beckons, the peach is ripe to be relished, swelling lusciously, hidden among leaves. The air, bathed in spicy scents, drinks the glow from my burning cheeks.

Do I not hear footsteps, something rustling in the leafy walk? No, a fruit has fallen there, heavy with its own ripeness.

The flaming eye of day perishes in sweet death, and its colours fade. In the beauteous dusk the flower-bells, which loathe day’s fire, open boldly. Silently, the moon raises its radiant countenance, the world dissolves in vast, calm shapes. The girdle is released by that spell, and all beauty is revealed to me.

Do I not see a shimmer of white, the glistening of a silver garment? No, it is the column gleaming against the row of dark yew trees.

Yearning heart, delight no longer in toying with sweet, airy images, the arms that desire to embrace them are empty. No joy in shadows can cool this breast. O, bring my beloved to me, let me feel her delicate hand, the bare shadow of her mantle’s hem, and the hollow dream will come to life!

And softly, as if from celestial heights, the hour of bliss arrives, thus she had come, unseen, waking her beloved with kisses.